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Description of  Cultures of Identification in Napoleonic Italy, c.1800 1814 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Italy)

103253513X rar Through the lens of identification procedures, this book examines how the processes of state-building affected European societies during the Napoleonic period. By focusing on the Kingdom of Italy, the author shows how the top-down change usually associated with Napoleonic state-building had to compete and share spaces with the agencies of other often-neglected actors such as local bureaucrats, the clergy, and common people. What emerges is the coexistence of different understandings of personal identities, defined as cultures of identification. One was rooted in the traditional habits of the population and based on a continuous performance of identities, allowing for a certain degree of fluidity. The other, promoted by the Napoleonic administration, envisaged legal and fixed identities that were to be managed directly by agents of the state. Personal identification in Napoleonic Italy was thus more of a battleground than a mere field of action for the modernizing activities of state authorities. Read more